Building Relationships

July 15, 2016

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Posted By: Sean P. Drower DMD

L.D Pankey, a pioneering dentist in the field of relationship-based dentistry, once said, "I never saw a tooth walk into my office." L.D. Pankey used a "Cross of Dentistry" to visualize the intersection of four basic tenets: Know Yourself, Know Your Patient, Apply Your Knowledge, and Know Your Work. He felt that if a dentst worked to keep improving in these areas then the dentist would have a spiritually (and as a byproduct, materially) rewarding dental practice.

I recently talked to my team here about "Know Your Patient". In my office, we are continually striving to build relationships with our client-patients and to make partnerships for achieving better oral and general health. There is no billable insurance code for taking the time to ask a patient what they are noticing about their health, where they are on their personal continuum towards better health, or how we can help them get there. But it is still important. Sometimes, as analytical people, we get focused on completing the procedure at hand and not on the person attached to the tooth!

So, when you as a patient visit our office you may be asked what seem like strange questions. It is not uncommon for me to ask, "what do you think about that?" as I sit you up in the chair and we examine your pictures of a cracked tooth or bleeding gums together. This way we can make an appropriate plan that is individual for your mouth and takes into account your individual level of existing health and determine what level of oral health you want to achieve.